Game Preview: 5 keys for the Miami Dolphins vs. the Cincinnati Bengals

It’s pretty simple: When the Dolphins turn the ball over, they lose – 10 giveaways in their three losses. And they were perfect in their one win, a 35-13 romp over Oakland. The Dolphins were doing great last week against Arizona until protection breakdowns led to a lost fumble with 3 minutes left and an interception in overtime. The Dolphins aren’t good enough yet to be able to overcome those type of critical mistakes.

2. Protect Ryan Tannehill.

The Dolphins had been doing a great job of keeping Tannehill clean until last week, when the Cardinals consistently confused and overwhelmed the Dolphins’ pass blockers to the tune of four sacks, nine QB hits, a forced fumble and an interception. Even after a shaky performance the Dolphins are still a respectable ninth in the league with eight sacks allowed, but they’ll need to clean up their performance quickly against a formidable Bengals defense that is tied for the league lead with 16 sacks. Defensive tackle Geno Atkins has five sacks, and right defensive end Michael Johnson has four.

3. Protect a lead.

If the games were only 45 minutes, the Dolphins would be 3-1 right now. But they’ve blown fourth-quarter leads in consecutive weeks and lost both games in overtime, and the numbers aren’t pretty: The Dolphins were out-scored 30-11 in the fourth quarter and OT, minus-two on turnover ratio and just 1-for-3 on field goals. Whether it’s poor conditioning or mental fatigue, the Dolphins have to fight through their sloppy play at the end of games and start finishing out some wins.

4. Beat up Andy Dalton.

Dalton is having an incredibly efficient start to the season, with a 277 yards per game, a 67.5 completion percentage, eight touchdowns against four interceptions and a 103.0 passer rating. But the Bengals do give up some sacks – 12 through four games, tied for sixth-most in the NFL. The Dolphins’ pass rush finally awoke last week with a whopping eight sacks against Arizona, which helped lead to a couple of interceptions, as well. But the Dolphins’ D could be in for a long day if they give Dalton time to sit in the pocket and pick them apart.

5. Get Reggie Bush more involved.

Despite Tannehill’s big passing day last week, Bush is still the engine of the offense. And they became one-dimensional last week against Arizona, rushing for a season-low 89 yards on 3.0 yards per carry with Bush hobbled by a knee injury and Daniel Thomas and Lamar Miller mostly ineffective. Bush still had 17 carries last week and broke off a 22-yard run, but he was clearly limited by the injury. Assuming he’s healthier this week – he’s been a full participant in practice – the Dolphins need to get himback to 20-25 touches to keep the Bengals’ defense honest.

Quick Slants

* The Dolphins only have one significant injury this week – CB Richard Marshall, who missed all three days of practice with a back injury. He hasn’t missed any playing time the past two weeks, but this might be the week that he finally can’t go. Nolan Carroll would likely replace him in the starting lineup, with Jimmy Wilson getting more time as the third corner.

* The Bengals’ banged-up secondary might get a boost from the return of two starting cornerbacks – Leon Hall, who missed the past two games with a hamstring injury, and Nate Clements, who missed last game with a calf injury. The Bengals have six cornerbacks who are all former first-round picks: Hall, Clements, Adam Jones, Terence Newman, Jason Allen (injured) and Dre Kirkpatrick (injured).

* Dolphins defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle was the Bengals’ defensive backs coach for the previous 11 seasons. The Dolphins switched to a 4-3 scheme upon Coyle’s arrival, and coach Joe Philbin said “there are a lot of similarities” between the two teams’ defenses.

* Despite a 1-3 record, the Dolphins have only been out-scored by four points this season (86-90). But they are 26th in the NFL with a minus-5 turnover differential. The Bengals, at 3-1, have scored the same amount of points they have allowed (112-112) and are minus-3 in turnovers.

* The Dolphins are No. 1 in run defense (53 yards per game) and yards per attempt (2.4). They are 30th in passing yards allowed (297 per game) but have the most passes attempted against them in the league (43 per game) and have the third-lowest completion percentage allowed (54.7).

* Andy Dalton’s 103.0 passer rating is fifth-best in the NFL. A.J. Green was recently named AFC Offensive Player of the Month, and is second in the NFL with 428 receiving yards, trailing only Brian Hartline (455).

* The Bengals have run a fake kick in consecutive weeks – a failed fake field goal two weeks ago in a win over Washington, and a successful fake punt in last week’s win over Jacksonville. The Bengals also scored a 73-yard touchdown on the first play of the Washington game on a wide receiver option pass from Mohamed Sanu to Green.